Agnès Varda: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Agnès Varda arrived at cinema from photography and the theatre, shooting La Pointe Courte in 1954 with almost no film-going behind her — which is why her map runs through Faulkner, Jean Vilar's stage and Millet's peasants as much as through Italian neorealism. This mix traces the Left Bank orbit she helped define, the marriage and partnerships that shaped her work, and the filmmakers who now claim her.

The Kynda mix for Agnès Varda

• Key Influence · La terra trema by Luchino Visconti (1948). Visconti's fishing-village film, shot on location in Aci Trezza with non-professional Sicilians speaking dialect, is the closest precedent for La Pointe Courte: a Mediterranean port, real inhabitants, documentary texture braided with staged drama. Varda had seen very few films when she began, but Italian neorealism's refusal of studio sets and its use of locals as actors was the working method she adopted in 1954.
• Influencia Obscura · The Wild Palms by William Faulkner (1939). Faulkner's novel alternates two unrelated stories chapter by chapter, never joining them. Varda built La Pointe Courte on exactly this architecture: a couple's crumbling marriage intercut with the lives of Sète fishermen, two strands that touch only through place. It is the single most concrete source for her debut's radical form, and it came from literature rather than from any film she had seen.
• Local Roots · La Jetée by Chris Marker (1962). Marker was Varda's closest Left Bank ally — the essayistic, photograph-driven wing of the French New Wave, as opposed to the Cahiers critics across the river. His film built almost entirely from stills shares her photographer's instinct that a single frame can hold time. The two traded help on projects for decades, and Marker's cat-and-commentary voice echoes in Varda's later first-person documentaries.
• Beyond the Medium · The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet (1857). Varda's documentary Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse begins at the Musée d'Orsay with Millet's stooping women, then follows modern gleaners picking fields, markets and bins. The painting supplies the title, the posture and the moral argument: that what society discards is gathered by the poor. She filmed herself in the gleaner's stance, folding art history directly into digital-video self-portraiture.
• Peer · Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard (1960). Godard and Varda were contemporaries in the Nouvelle Vague explosion, though she preceded it: La Pointe Courte came five years before Breathless. He appeared, sunglasses off, in her Cléo short Les Fiancés du pont Mac Donald alongside Anna Karina. Decades later Varda chased him across Paris in Faces Places, and his closed door became that film's unresolved ending.
• From the Canon · Cléo from 5 to 7 by Agnès Varda (1962). Ninety minutes in the life of a singer awaiting a cancer diagnosis, shot across real Paris in near real time. The film turns a woman from object of the gaze into a person who looks back, and its structure — chaptered, clock-driven, interrupted by a comic silent short — shows Varda's whole method: formal constraint used to liberate observation rather than confine it.
• Key Collaborator · The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy (1964). Varda's husband and lifelong artistic counterpart: she the documentarian of hard realities, he the maker of sung melodrama in candy colours. They lived and worked on rue Daguerre, raised children together and filmed each other's worlds; after his death Varda made Jacquot de Nantes and The Young Girls Turn 25 about him. His sensibility is inseparable from her late work.
• Legacy · Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig (2017). Gerwig has repeatedly named Varda among the filmmakers who showed her a woman's directorial voice was possible, and the two appeared together during the 2018 awards season when Varda received her honorary Oscar. Lady Bird's attention to a specific place, its unsentimental affection for a difficult young woman and its refusal of tidy resolution all descend from Cléo and Mona.

What influenced Agnès Varda

• William Faulkner. Faulkner is listed among Varda’s literary influences. (also via The Wild Palms) “Many of her influences were artistic or literary, including Surrealism , William Faulkner , Franz Kafka , and Nathalie Sarraute .” (Wikipedia)
• Nathalie Sarraute. Sarraute is listed among Varda’s literary influences. “Many of her influences were artistic or literary, including Surrealism , William Faulkner , Franz Kafka , and Nathalie Sarraute .” (Wikipedia)
• Vaugirard School of Photography. The article says Varda chose to study photography at the Vaugirard School of Photography. “Varda intended to become a museum curator, and studied art history at the École du Louvre , [ 8 ] but decided to study photography at the Vaugirard School of Photography instead.” (Wikipedia)
• Surrealism. Surrealism is listed among Varda’s influences. “Many of her influences were artistic or literary, including Surrealism , William Faulkner , Franz Kafka , and Nathalie Sarraute .” (Wikipedia)
• The Wild Palms by William Faulkner (1939). The Wild Palms (William Faulkner) — ghost for Agnès Varda “Many of her influences were artistic or literary, including Surrealism, William Faulkner, Franz Kafka, and Nathalie Sarraute.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• École des Beaux-Arts. Varda studied photography at the École des Beaux-Arts. “Varda studied art history at the École du Louvre and photography at the École des Beaux-Arts , before working as a photographer at the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris.” (Wikipedia)
• Franz Kafka. Kafka is listed among Varda’s literary influences. “Many of her influences were artistic or literary, including Surrealism , William Faulkner , Franz Kafka , and Nathalie Sarraute .” (Wikipedia)
• Gaston Bachelard. Varda studied under Bachelard and was influenced by his philosophy. “At the time, Varda was influenced by the philosophy of Gaston Bachelard , under whom she had once studied at the Sorbonne.” (Wikipedia)
• École du Louvre. Varda studied art history at the École du Louvre. “Varda studied art history at the École du Louvre and photography at the École des Beaux-Arts , before working as a photographer at the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris.” (Wikipedia)
• L'Atalante by Jean Vigo (1934). L'Atalante (Jean Vigo) — titan for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)
• The Son of Man by René Magritte (1964). The Son of Man (René Magritte) — culture for Agnès Varda (wikidata.org)
• Rome, Open City by Roberto Rossellini (1945). Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini) — titan for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)
• Le Cid (Théâtre National Populaire production) by Jean Vilar (1951). Le Cid (Théâtre National Populaire production) (Jean Vilar) — ghost for Agnès Varda “But I immediately wanted to make what I called 'compositions.' And it was with these that I had the impression I was doing something where I was asking questions with composition, form and meaning." In 1951, her friend Jean Vilar opened …” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights (Hieronymus Bosch) — culture for Agnès Varda (wikidata.org)
• The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet (1857). The Gleaners (Jean-François Millet) — culture for Agnès Varda (wikidata.org)
• La terra trema by Luchino Visconti (1948). La terra trema (Luchino Visconti) — titan for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Chris Marker. The article places Varda and Marker in the Left Bank cinema movement. (also via La Jetée) “Varda's films belong more precisely to the Left Bank ( Rive Gauche ) cinema movement, along with those of Resnais, Chris Marker , Marguerite Duras , Alain Robbe-Grillet , Jean Cayrol and Henri Colpi .” (Wikipedia)
• Marguerite Duras. The article places Varda and Duras in the Left Bank cinema movement. (also via India Song) “Varda's films belong more precisely to the Left Bank ( Rive Gauche ) cinema movement, along with those of Resnais, Chris Marker , Marguerite Duras , Alain Robbe-Grillet , Jean Cayrol and Henri Colpi .” (Wikipedia)
• Alain Resnais. Resnais edited Varda’s La Pointe Courte. (also via Hiroshima mon amour) “The film was edited by Varda's friend and fellow "Left Bank" filmmaker Alain Resnais , who was reluctant to work on it because it was "so nearly the film he wanted to make himself";” (Wikipedia)
• Jean-Luc Godard (1930). Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda) — peer for Jean-Luc Godard (via Cléo from 5 to 7, Breathless) “He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Demy.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• François Truffaut (1932). Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda) — geography for François Truffaut (via Cléo from 5 to 7, The 400 Blows) “The film was immediately praised by Cahiers du Cinéma: André Bazin said, "There is a total freedom to the style, which produces the impression, so rare in the cinema, that we are in the presence of a work that obeys only the dreams and d…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• JR. Varda and JR co-directed Faces Places. (also via Women Are Heroes) “In 2017, Varda co-directed Faces Places with the artist JR .” (Wikipedia)
• Antoine Bourseiller. Bourseiller acted in Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7. “Varda had two children: a daughter, Rosalie Varda (born 1958), from a previous union with actor Antoine Bourseiller (who starred in Cléo from 5 to 7 ), and a son, Mathieu Demy (born 1972), with Demy.” (Wikipedia)
• Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard) — peer for Agnès Varda “We make films so that you love the film." The film ends with Varda and JR knocking on Jean-Luc Godard's front door in Rolle for an interview.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Théâtre National Populaire. Varda worked as the Théâtre National Populaire’s official photographer. “In 1951, her friend Jean Vilar opened the Théâtre National Populaire and hired Varda as its official photographer.” (Wikipedia)
• Alain Robbe-Grillet. The article places Varda and Robbe-Grillet in the Left Bank cinema movement. “Varda's films belong more precisely to the Left Bank ( Rive Gauche ) cinema movement, along with those of Resnais, Chris Marker , Marguerite Duras , Alain Robbe-Grillet , Jean Cayrol and Henri Colpi .” (Wikipedia)
• La Jetée by Chris Marker (1962). La Jetée (Chris Marker) — geography for Agnès Varda “Key makers include Nicole Vèdres, Yannick Bellon, Chris Marker and Georges Franju.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Jane Birkin. Birkin starred in Varda’s Kung-Fu Master!. “Jane Birkin stars as Mary-Jane, with Mathieu Demy , Varda's son, portraying Julien, and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Lucy, adding depth to the familial dynamics explored in the story.” (Wikipedia)
• Left Bank Cinema. The article identifies Varda as a major voice of Left Bank Cinema. “She began her career as a still photographer before becoming one of the major voices of the Left Bank Cinema and the French New Wave .” (Wikipedia)
• The 400 Blows by François Truffaut (1959). The 400 Blows (François Truffaut) — peer for Agnès Varda “The film was immediately praised by Cahiers du Cinéma: André Bazin said, "There is a total freedom to the style, which produces the impression, so rare in the cinema, that we are in the presence of a work that obeys only the dreams and d…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• French New Wave. The article places Varda within the French New Wave. “She began her career as a still photographer before becoming one of the major voices of the Left Bank Cinema and the French New Wave .” (Wikipedia)
• Hiroshima mon amour by Alain Resnais (1959). Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais) — collaborator for Agnès Varda “The film was edited by Varda's friend and fellow "Left Bank" filmmaker Alain Resnais, who was reluctant to work on it because it was "so nearly the film he wanted to make himself"; Resnais's 1959 film Hiroshima mon amour would later feat…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Ciné-Tamaris. Varda founded the production company Ciné-Tamaris. “In 1977, Varda founded her own production company, Ciné-Tamaris, in order to have more control over shooting and editing.” (Wikipedia)
• Mathieu Demy. Mathieu Demy acted in Varda’s Kung-Fu Master!. “Jane Birkin stars as Mary-Jane, with Mathieu Demy , Varda's son, portraying Julien, and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Lucy, adding depth to the familial dynamics explored in the story.” (Wikipedia)
• Le Sang des bêtes by Georges Franju (1949). Le Sang des bêtes (Georges Franju) — geography for Agnès Varda “Key makers include Nicole Vèdres, Yannick Bellon, Chris Marker and Georges Franju.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Charlotte Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg acted in Varda’s Kung-Fu Master!. “Jane Birkin stars as Mary-Jane, with Mathieu Demy , Varda's son, portraying Julien, and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Lucy, adding depth to the familial dynamics explored in the story.” (Wikipedia)
• Henri Colpi. The article places Varda and Colpi in the Left Bank cinema movement. “Varda's films belong more precisely to the Left Bank ( Rive Gauche ) cinema movement, along with those of Resnais, Chris Marker , Marguerite Duras , Alain Robbe-Grillet , Jean Cayrol and Henri Colpi .” (Wikipedia)
• India Song by Marguerite Duras (1975). India Song (Marguerite Duras) — geography for Agnès Varda “=== Involvement in the French New Wave === Because of her literary influences, and because her work predates the French New Wave, Varda's films belong more precisely to the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) cinema movement, along with those of Res…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Jean Cayrol. The article places Varda and Cayrol in the Left Bank cinema movement. “Varda's films belong more precisely to the Left Bank ( Rive Gauche ) cinema movement, along with those of Resnais, Chris Marker , Marguerite Duras , Alain Robbe-Grillet , Jean Cayrol and Henri Colpi .” (Wikipedia)
• The European Graduate School. Varda held a film professorship at The European Graduate School. “She was also Professor of Film at The European Graduate School .” (Wikipedia)
• Valentine Schlegel. Schlegel handled artistic direction for Varda’s first feature-film project. “Varda decided to shoot a feature film of her own, leaving the artistic direction in the hands of her partner Valentine Schlegel .” (Wikipedia)
• Rosalie Varda. Varda worked with her daughter Rosalie on Faces Places. “Varda worked on the Oscar-nominated documentary Faces Places with her daughter.” (Wikipedia)
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy (1964). The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy) — collaborator for Agnès Varda “=== Jacquot de Nantes (1991) === In 1991, shortly after her husband Jacques Demy's death, Varda created the film Jacquot de Nantes, which is about his life and death.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Chantal Akerman (1950). Vagabond (Agnès Varda) — peer for Chantal Akerman (via Vagabond, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles) (wikidata.org)
• Women Are Heroes by JR (2010). Women Are Heroes (JR) — collaborator for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles by Chantal Akerman. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman) — peer for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)
• Loin du Vietnam. Godard collaborated with Varda and other filmmakers on the anthology Loin du Vietnam.

Who Agnès Varda influenced

• Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig (2017). Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) — legacy for Agnès Varda “Her other influences include Howard Hawks, Ernst Lubitsch, Carole Lombard, Joan Didion, Patti Smith, Federico Fellini, Chantal Akerman, Claire Denis, Mia Hansen-Løve, John Huston, Mike Leigh and Agnès Varda.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859). A photograph by Varda inspired Steve Harrison’s book. “A particular photo taken by Varda in Portugal in the 1950s inspired the book A Tale of Two Cities (and a homonymous documentary ) by historian Steve Harrison (2017).” (Wikipedia)
• Wendy and Lucy by Kelly Reichardt (2008). Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt) — legacy for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)
• Me and You and Everyone We Know by Miranda July (2005). Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July) — legacy for Agnès Varda (themoviedb.org)
• Kali Uchis (1994). Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda) — culture for Kali Uchis (via Cléo from 5 to 7) (wikidata.org)
• Adrianne Lenker. The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda) — culture for Adrianne Lenker (via The Gleaners and I) (themoviedb.org)
• Kathleen Collins. Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda) — titan for Kathleen Collins (via Cléo from 5 to 7) (themoviedb.org)